Ankeny Christian Academy’s Katie Quick was surprised when BCLUW elected to pitch to her during the third inning of Saturday’s softball game at North Polk Middle School.
The senior quickly made the Comets pay for that decision.
Quick hit a three-run homer on the first pitch from Kiayre Gallentine to break a scoreless tie, and the 11th-ranked Eagles went on to post a 5-0 victory in a Class 1A regional semifinal.
“I normally don’t like going for the first pitch, but I knew she was throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes,” said Quick. “I knew I wanted to attack that one, and it was a good one. I’m happy I went for it.”
ACA (17-2) scored all five of its runs in the third inning. Sydney Quick drew a one-out walk to ignite the outburst and Katelyn Weathers followed with a single that skipped under the glove of left fielder Grace Farnsworth for an error, allowing the runners to advance to second and third.
That set the stage for Quick, who ranks second in the entire state with a .683 average and leads Class 1A in home runs.
“We usually try to clog up first base to make (the opponent) pitch to her,” ACA coach James Crosby said of Quick. “But we’ve got great hitters behind her, so you’re playing with fire if you walk her.”
Quick belted her 13th homer of the season to put the Eagles ahead. When she got back to the dugout, she asked her father a question.
“I was like, ‘Why didn’t they walk me?'” Quick said. “But I’m happy that they didn’t.”
Breeze Bentz singled and stole second, then went to third when Abby Farrand reached on an error. Bentz scored when Sicily Crosby reached on a fielder’s choice, then Farrand raced home on a bunt by Livi Johnson.
Quick (11-2) tossed a two-hitter to earn the victory. She walked one and had seven strikeouts.
On Wednesday, Quick threw a no-hitter and hit a grand slam in the Eagles’ 15-0 win over AGWSR in a regional quarterfinal.
“I don’t think it was my best, but it was definitely a pretty good showing,” Quick said of her pitching effort. “I just think I did my job to throw strikes, and my defense did really well at making all the plays.”
BCLUW (20-8) threatened to score in the sixth inning, when Cassie Nason reached on an error and went to second on a wild pitch. She advanced to third on a grounder, but was left stranded when Quick made the play herself on a grounder by Eden Ladehoff and then retired Raegan Crawford on a fly ball to right to end the inning.
“Katie’s hard on herself,” Crosby said. “But she hasn’t given up a run yet in the postseason, so she’s pretty amazing.”
Weathers and Quick each went 2-for-3 in the win. Gallentine allowed four earned runs on five hits.
Ladehoff, a freshman, threw three hitless innings of relief and racked up five strikeouts, but the damage had already been done.
“We’re one game further than we were last year,” Crosby said. “It’s right where we want to be.”
The Eagles will now play at No. 10 Mason City Newman (23-5) in the regional final on Monday at 7 p.m. The Knights advanced with a 3-2 win over Martensdale-St. Marys, scoring the winning run with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
Newman is led by junior Sami Kruckenberg, who entered Saturday’s game with a 19-4 record and a 0.79 ERA. She also led the Knights with four homers and 32 RBIs.
“I know that Newman has a really good pitcher,” Quick said. “That’ll be an interesting game. We just need to shut them down and hope that we can score a few (runs).”